My buddy is going to be starting a new campaign when our current one ends and he plans on making us Gestalt.
For the past while I've been very interested in the Daemons and the horsemen of the apocalypse so I'm planning on making a PC that takes the Soul Drinker prestige from "The Book of the Damned vol.3 Horsemen of the apocalypse".
This prestige is based around a familiar and casting so I plan on being a Wizard for the multitude of spells and the familiar. I'm having trouble however choosing a second class that will complement the first. I'm looking for any suggestions and why. One of the main points of the prestige class is making a touch attack to do negative levels.
My friend suggested going Mythic Theurge but after looking at the class I decided not to because I don't want to have to worry about too many Ability Scores as I don't know what the point buy is going to be.
I find that Wizards are not especially well-suited to gestalt play; they're strongly Int-dependent and not much else is. I think Rogue is the best of a rather poor lot for the other side of a gestalt build; you end up with an unbelievable number of skill points, high saves (including a rare high Ref save) and some useful abilities, both offensive and defensive.
... and the durability of a Dixie cup.
Ranger will give you some of those abilities as well.
If you're looking for an arcane caster, Sorcerer is actually much more gestalt friendly; the sorcerer/paladin combination is brilliant, and sorcerer/bard or sorcerer/oracle both make awesome gestalt spellcasting combinations. If you take the Tattooed Sorcerer archetype you get the familiar in exchange for Eschew Matrials (which you can get as a human bonus feat if you like), so all is good.
Cavalier, Ranger, or Pally/Antipally all can get horse companions... all while boosting their off-saves, BAB, hit die and skills per level and class skill list.
I propose Monk. Get yourself some more saves, and martial survivability. Shield and Mage Armor on top of Monk AC seems very helpful, and the 2nd level buffing spells will be great too.
This build looks much better until you try to make it with a realistic number of attribute points. My 16/14/14/18/14/7 Wizard/Monk just cost me 31 points. And I still don't have proficiency in a single weapon worth wielding.
Can you qualify for the prestige class with a magus? And is that touch attack a specific spell? Something that can be delivered via Spellstrike?
Take the 'Kensei' magus archetype. You get to add your Int to your AC in return for losing armor proficiency. It'll suck for the early levels but after that it's quite nice.
I also enjoy the Bladebound archetype combined with this, simply because you don't have to spend ANY money on your armor or weapon.
I'm a fan of the magus angle as well.
The other option would be alchemist.
Bombs benefit from high int/dex(2 stats a wizard wants anyways). This gives you a solid attack to fall back on when you don't want to burn a spell.
You can take infusion discovery and give out buff infusions to party members so they can buff themselves, which lets you spend more time in battle dealing with the enemy.
Alchemist has a good selection of buff spells. This lets you use your alchemist slots for buffs, and lets you save your wizard slots for more battle oriented spells.
Take the mental mutogen for another +4 int(+6 at higher levels) that stacks with almost everything.
Alchemist (Mindchemist)-Get cognagen for +2 to your spell DCs, get double Int bonus on all knowledge checks, combine with Breadth of Experience to know everything ever, healing with cure extracts, prepare offensive spells with wizard list and keep extracts open for utility, copy spells from spell book into formulas, Spontaneous Healing and Healing Touch discoveries for fast healing 5 for a rd per lvl, free Brew Potion and Scribe Scroll feats, pick up Create Wonderous Item and you're a walking magic shop, there's probably other stuff but you get the idea.
Edit: Curse you, Charender! Give me time to type!
I agree with Eben - I'd go into this class with a magus gestalt with a Conductive weapon.
As written, the class needs to go into melee to deliver touch effects to steal souls. The familiar Deliver Touch Spells ability doesn't let you channel Su powers, so you have to get up there. Wizards generally don't want to do that, though gestalt makes that much less of a problem.
As either a wizard or a magus, I'd take a vivisectionist+beastmorph alchemist as the second class here. You could describe it as your character is a master of death and has learned to absorb power from your fallen foes - maybe he harvests bits from his enemies to make his extracts? Alchemists can get pretty creepy, and the vivisectionist+bestmorph combination allows you to play more toward the front lines, as they get a number of powerful self-buffing abilities.
Another option would be a kensai magus, which is a magus that loses some casting power to be a better unarmored fighter and the ability to focus on a particular weapon. With a wizard gestalt and a conductive weapon that could be quite effective - you'd have all the normal wizard defensive stuff, plus the Canny Defense power, +Int modifier to initiative, and bonuses to critical hits, which would work well for energy drain through a conductive weapon. You could choose your Kensai levels to advance, so you'd gain full wizard spellcasting and slower access to the poorer magus spell list. If you're going all the way to 20, Wizard 20 // Magus (Kensai) 10 / Souldrinker 10 would be a pretty nasty character, though somewhat lacking in Hit Dice and BAB.
Magus for sure. As soon as I read the title of this thread, I knew Magus would be your best option. Alchemist is another intelligence based class however, so it's down to your personal preference, but I feel Magus would be awesome, because a Magus is practically a Wizard anyway. Just one who doesn't suck in combat.
I'm intrigued with the idea of a spellslinger wizard/gunslinger. All good saves, full BAB ranged attacking, and full spellcasting.
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My friend suggested going Mythic Theurge but after looking at the class I decided not to because I don't want to have to worry about too many Ability Scores as I don't know what the point buy is going to be.
Kensai Magus. Broad Study at 6th level.
Increased HP, 3/4 BAB, INT to AC and INIT, cast + attack in the same round.
One interesting thing would be to select Druid.
Get natural spell, select small critters to wildshape into.
A small bird flying around casting doom on the enemies is both a fun mental image and a very effective one. You only need enough wisdom to get to 18 by level 17 or so- and items help alot with that.
You'll have two full caster spell lists. Just use the druid side for buffing yourself (and your familiar) and the party as well as some fun with summons.
And, of course, the animal companion to help tank and keep stuff off of you and your familiar while you are out doing those touch attacks. (or trade it off for something more useful if 3 of "you" at the table is too much time in the spotlight)
-S
Nothing says 4 Horsemen like a Doom Squirrel. :D
Ranger is the one you want. It checks all the boxes for a gestalt, and gives you some great archery feats that you don't have to break yourself with MADness to get, and you get an animal companion to protect you and your familiar. Buff your personal attack beast, and enjoy the superior BaB, saves, skill points, and whatnot.
Go urban ranger and rub it in all the gestalt rogues' faces...
Vivisectionist alchemist would be my second choice for a diversified spell selection, SA dice to augment your spell dmg, and a RP pipeline to the iconic mad scientist!
*Edit: Ninja'd on the attack beast idea, but ranger does it better than Druid with less madness...
I've wanted to make a wizard/kensai magus gestalt for a while now. They just seem to fit so well! I full wizard spellcasting with spell combat? Damn.
Ranger is an interesting idea though as well.
Maybe a gestalt with a Magus? Dervish Dance is a good way to dump strength without a care. Kensai or Hexcrafter seem like decent archetypes. I'm partial to Kensai; adding Int to:
- AC
- Initiative
- Number of AoOs per round
- Critical Confirmation Rolls
- Damage against flat-footed opponents
...all very nice for a character who's predominantly wizard, but dabbling with melee. And losing a spell per level on your Magus side doesn't hurt so bad when you're also a full wizard!
Magus gives you more spells based off of Int, more HP, a better fort save, bonus feats... Broad Study seems like a fun Magus Arcana to use, so you can use wizard spells for your Magus abilities.
All in all, I think Magus is a nice supplement to a wizard that lets you care about the same stats you did before; Int is #1, Dex is #2, and don't dump Con or Wis.
You could use a Myrmidarch Magus and enjoy not having to go into melee.